Drudgery

On days like today, I feel it... the "spiritless toil".

It's grey, soggy, slippery (Perú has always been slippery...) and still smells like exhaust on the street despite the constant drizzle. I've taken to wearing a mask outside to prevent headaches and nosebleeds, since I'm sensitive to poor air quality.

I'm situated at the PUCP (they pronounce it "pookp" with a very satisfying aspirated sound at the end that is amusing) else known as "La cato" in the CIGA, or Center for Applied Geographic Research. I share a back office with Daniel, an undergrad engineering student who works in admin for the center. Rows of mismatched cabinets and boxes filled with old reports linger in corners and against walls. It feels like the perfect spot for a grad student.

Last night was the From local hydrologic knowledge to a solution to global water stress/"Del conocimiento hidrológico local a la solución del estrés hídrico global" conference, featuring the Italian president-elect of the International Hydrological Science Association. The panel of local leaders in water was particularly interesting to me, in part due to the diversity of views and particular Peruvian context, and also because of

     who was not present

          what was not said

I also attended another talk this week in the "Management"/Gestión school by a team who has been funded by National Geographic for 6 expeditions in the glaciated Andes. I was struck by how old school it felt. I almost expected a slide projector with a "click" and "swish" as each image shifted into place. I'm not referring simply to the side-by-side 1931 to 2023 glacier pictures (which was really cool, by the way) but also the insular logics of the university, both assuming 

we are the good guys and 

obviously we are going to win something something

. People from at least 4 other departments were there, which seemed promising, and the professors mentioned co-creation of research agendas as well as local livelihoods. However, I sensed these terms were theoretical, approaching buzz words. In fact, one of the speakers called co-creation "fashionable"/está de moda.

​Noticing our position in a differently colonized landscape, in the Global South, and the strict rigidity/rigor of the academic hierarchy in addition to the science presented left me incredibly appreciative for my PhD program at home.